In Burma (Myanmar), how many cyclone orphans?

Aid groups are trying to curb child labor and reconnect families – without the help of surnames.

from the June 9, 2008 edition

Page 2 of 2

Page 1 | 2

Many children, especially younger ones who lost everything, including identity cards, may be unable to recall the name of their village or find it on a map. The cyclone, which left 134,000 dead or missing and another 2.4 million affected, also erased many villages completely, obliterating schools and homes, and even shifting earth or scrubbing away topographical landmarks such as trees or patterns of farmland.

Unable to retrace their steps home, many survivors have drifted between makeshift camps and temples. Many children sit with vacant expressions, in shock and grief.

The number of displaced children is hard to estimate. Forty percent of people in the delta before the cyclone were under 18, according to Save the Children. UNICEF says 1.1 million children were attending 4,000 schools that were damaged or destroyed.

UNICEF says that at least 2,000 are orphans or are missing parents, but many Burmese say the number is much higher, because delta families were known for having many children. Some say there are 5,000 orphans in the delta town of Labutta alone.

Returning kids to school, and routine

Aid agencies say Burma's military government has been closing refugee camps in towns and sending survivors back to their villages – a move the junta denies.

Officials say they are working on a voluntary resettlement program that will allow parents to find their children, rebuild their homes, and get children into classes as soon as possible, to keep up with students nationwide who began the school year on June 2.

Andrew Kirkwood, country director for Save the Children, says he supports the government's push to get kids in school: "If kids get into school, it creates a routine. It's easier to identify which kids are traumatized or malnourished."

To fill the gap before schools are ready, UNICEF has opened 80 "child-friendly spaces" in the delta, where kids in groups of 50 to 350 can sing, play, read, and enjoy one another's company. It has also provided learning packages, textbooks, kits for affected schools, and roofing sheets and construction kits to repair them.

With thousands of people cast adrift, Burmese relief volunteers say they hope their government, as well as the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations, will at least protect orphans from child traffickers and even citizens hoping to adopt them.

"Many people come and ask to adopt these children, but we don't allow them to," says a Burmese woman, who works in child-protection programs for the UN and other groups. "The [children] need to remain with their families."

Some people "say they want to adopt children to take care of them, but they have other reasons," she continues. "It's very important to protect these children."

1 | Page 2